If Only for a Moment
by Overlord Rousdower
Summary: Helen has been running for a long time, running from her past, her present, and her future. Her second greatest wish is that her life could be brighter, that she could love, and be loved, if only for a moment. And her greatest wish? That she had never been born.
1. Prologue: The Letter

_As I write this, I prepare myself for a fate that I should have accepted many years ago._

 _I am sure that you know by now what has happened._

 _Please do not be angry with me, for this was not my choice. If it was, you wouldn't be reading this, and I wouldn't be gone. Long before I had met you, I tried to thwart fate, and now I must suffer the consequences._

 _Do you remember when we first met? I was running. Running so very fast, and I ran straight into you. You asked me why I was running, in that strange voice of your's, and when my poor lungs couldn't gather enough air to reply… You laughed in my face... I haven't quite forgiven you for that! Upon further consideration, you're laughter is what brought me towards you in the first place… I have no clue what you found so amusing, but from an entire street away I heard your deranged cackling... the fact of the matter is that you did laugh, and you saved me._

 _And when they saw me, you whisked me away and suddenly my life was brighter, for a time. You took me in, fed me, and lifted my spirits._

 _Most importantly, you taught me how to laugh._

 _However, despite whatever we may want… or need, all good things must come to an end. They will take me away, and there is nothing you, or I, can do about it. I have resigned myself. I am so very sorry, for so many things. I know that you thought it was over, as did I… until I few weeks ago… I'm sure you noticed. I didn't realize, until I saw him. He smiled his false smile and waved, and right then I knew that my time had come._

 _But I think we both knew that it would end with this, eventually. We can't always run away from our problems, and we all have to face them at some point. Especially problems like mine._

 _Finally, I want to thank you. You made my life a better place, if only for a moment._

 _Please, please, do not remember me for my poor choices, my fear, or my pathetic end. Remember me for the time we had together, the adventures we shared, and most of all, for my love._

 _Then I want you to forget me, and go on with your life. You will find others who will make you happy and brighten your lonely days._

 _I have only one request;_

 _Never forget the joy that you showed me and never lose the laughter that saved me._

 _All my love,_

 _Helen_


	2. Mr Creep

**_London, May 23, 1888_**

The alleyways of London were by no means a safe place. They were dank, filled with the sick and the homeless, and, if you lingered long enough, you would be sure to find a rotting body or two. They were dark, and miserable, and altogether not a pleasant place. It wasn't that Helen didn't know this, it was merely that in that particular moment, the alleyways were safer than any public street.

A gunshot rang out and Helen stared, horrified as a strand of her hair drifted down to come to rest on the ground at her feet. She looked over her shoulders, and saw her pursuers standing at the end of the alley. She didn't waste a second.

Her feet hit the ground in a steady rhythm. Over the past six months, she had become used to this monotonous way of living. Tired of the constant running, the hiding… and the fear, always the fear, eating away at her slowly.

"Cut her off!"

Helen chanced a glance over her shoulder. She could see them, nearly fifty yards back and gaining, their hooded faces focused solely on her. She turned her eyes back in to the front, and another shot was herself to the right, she was face to face with one of her pursuers. She threw herself under his arm and she felt his fingers just barely graze the hem of her dress.

She was breathing heavily by now, and to her surprise, she hadn't lost them yet. Usually it only took five or ten minutes and a few clever turns to get rid of them. Another gunshot cracked through the air and she felt a chunk of the brick wall hit her cheek. She looked over her shoulder once more and, to her extreme bafflement, she saw that she had only put a few more yards between herself and the hooded men. Since when were they this fast? Another gunshot and another, and she felt a horrid pain in her arm. This time she didn't risk turning her eyes from her path. She didn't need to look to know that she had been shot, and if she looked away now, she was afraid she'd fall.

Up ahead, she could see the crowded street, and she tried to move her legs faster. It wasn't working. Her pursuers had stopped firing at her, Helen knew that if they hit one of the civilians, they would be faced with more trouble than merely having to chase her across the countryside and back. She could hear them gaining on her, and she desperately threw herself out of the alley and into the crowd. She nearly ran into a man, obviously a noble, who froze in his track and glared at her.

"Watch where you're going!" he snapped.

Helen glared at the man and stepped aside with a flourish. He sneered at her and continued on his way, oblivious to the threat she was under..

"Got you!"

Helen looked over her shoulders to see one of them reaching for her, his hand inches away. She threw herself forwards at the last second, tripping slightly, and running further down the street. She noticed it had started raining, and she cursed to herself. There really truly were very few days that this day could get any worse. She could feel her legs starting to shake and she began to stumble every dozen steps or so. Her arm was throbbing, and she could feel blood dripping off her fingertips.

 _I'm not going to make it…_

"GYAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!"

She was so startled by the sudden noise, that Helen almost froze in her tracks. Fortunately she may have been able to stop herself from doing so, but the people around her did not, and the looked around in confusion, vainly searching for the source of the crazed laughter. She stumbled around the corner and pressed herself against the wall for a moment, briefly peering around it as she took a few seconds to catch her breath. It seemed her pursuers had been confused by the laugh as well, and were now quite a bit further behind than before. Pushing herself off the wall, she heard another laugh, although much closer. She made a split second decision. Not often did she seek assistance from another person, but she felt she didn't have much choice this time. She pressed forwards in the direction of the laughter, looking over her shoulder more frequently. She had finally made her way into a less frequented area once again, so the chances of the hooded men resuming their firing were rather high.

She heard a shout, and footsteps echoing behind her. Another gunshot rang out and she heard faint screams from the street they had exited moments ago. She saw another turn up ahead, and pushed herself to run as fast as she could. Turning down a small alley to her left, she found that it branched off several times. For once something was in her favor.

Helen rounded the corner, eyes turned behind her, watching for her pursuers, and face planted right into someone's- though obviously a man's- chest. They both flew through the air and landed on the ground next to each other.

She lay stunned for a second, breathing heavily. She had landed on her injured arm, and was blinded by the searing pain. Groaning internally, she realized the chances of infection had just rose to unfortunately high levels. She finally remembered why she was on the ground in the first place, and could feel the person beside her, unmoving.

 _Is he dead?_ she wondered offhandedly, as she vainly searched for the will to get up and _move_.

As if in answer, the person started to giggle. She turned to stare at him in disbelief, and to her shock and vague horror, he was staring back at her… and grinning broadly nonetheless. _Too_ broadly. He had silver hair, and an ungodly amount of it, from what she could see. His eyes were obscured by ridiculously long bangs, and she thought she saw a long, thin scar marring the pale skin of his right cheek, just underneath them.

 _Great. A creep_.

"What's got you in such a hurry?" The man had a strange voice, rising at strange places and drawing out certain words, making him sound as deranged as he looked.

Helen was unable to reply, her lungs still working overtime to regulate her breathing, so she settled for merely shaking her head vigorously, hoping he'd take the hint.

"Pffft… GYAHAHAHAHHAHA!" the strange man started to roll around, his laughter so loud it hurt her ears. "Your face!" he howled. Obviously no hints were taken. Not to mention, she'd found the source of the laughter... and she was beginning to wish she hadn't.

She exasperatedly returned her gaze to the dreary London sky, letting the depressing rain slowly drizzle down her face. If he didn't shut up, she'd probably end up dead. Unfortunately, she couldn't muster the strength to tell him off, or get up, or _anything_. Her arm hurt, her legs hurt, her lungs hurt, and most of all she was tired. Not to mention her ragged dress was soaked…

 _With the way my luck's been going, I'll get sick next,_ she groaned to herself. _Then I'lll truly be as good as dead._

She heard the stranger get to his feet, and his high-pitched giggles never ceasing, even for a second, began grating against her nerves, giving her the strongest desire she'd ever had to strangle someone to death. Her view of the clouds was slowly obscured by a hand, with long black nails.

She was strangely fixated on them. Why on earth were they so long? What purpose could they possibly serve him? And, most importantly, _why_ were they _black_?

"Hellooooooo?" The fingers wiggled slightly and she snapped from her daze, shooting him a glare. Unfortunately, this only caused him to break into giggles again. He was really starting to unnerve her.

"I found her!"

She sprang into a sitting position, nearly smacking her face off the hand the stranger had offered her (this, of course, caused him to laugh even harder). She stared, wide-eyed at the hooded men, who were now eyeing the man standing next to her warily. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and to her surprise he was cheerfully waving at her pursuers, a grin plastered on his face. She decided she probably shouldn't have been surprised at all.

Helen struggled to her feet, almost toppling into the strange man, but catching herself just in time. The last thing she wanted to do was touch him… he could have some kind of disease… Maybe that would explain the nails? She shuddered.

"Sir, we must ask you to please vacate the area," the man standing at the front of the small group said, sounding as Helen felt. Absolutely exhausted.

"Ooooo, ehehehe, are you going to kill her? Do you need a coffin? I have a coffin! In fact, I have lots of coffins! If you wait right here, I can go get one!" the man rubbed his… hands together and grinned broadly at the hooded men.

 _What._

Helen stared blankly at the man standing beside her.

"Just one minute!" The man held up a finger, and- to everyone's complete and utter shock- jogged off, laughing to himself and muttering something about measurements.

Helen slowly tore her horrified gaze away from his retreating back, to find the group of men seemingly frozen in shock (she really didn't blame them). But who was she to waste an opportunity?

She once again, found herself running. Luck was on her side, and her pursuers didn't catch on until she had gone quite far. She mentally thanked that stranger, whoever he was, and then immediately afterwords prayed she never saw him again.

Turning down a rather dark alleyway, Helen made it about halfway down before she felt a pair of hands wrap around her waist and yank her sideways into an especially dark patch of shadows. She shrieked and a hand slapped itself over her mouth.

"Heehee, shhhhh, we can't have them finding you now, can we?" a voice whispered in here ear.

 _Oh no. Please no._

Helen struggled against the arm wrapped around her waist, trying to maneuver herself so she could at least bite the creep's hand. She heard a snort and twister herself around to see the man had his face buried in his arm, obviously trying to muffle the sound of his laughter. She growled at him though it was muffled by his hand, but that only made him laugh harder.

"Where the hell'd she go?!"

Helen's eyes snapped forward, and she abandoned all movement. Unfortunately, the man holding her was still sniggering into his arm and she rolled her eyes.

He leaned forward and whispered, "Isn't this fun! Just like hide and seek!" Helen shuddered and moved her head away.

"How would I know? I was in the back!" a man whined.

"It's not our fault you're so slow…"

"Hey! I'm not-"

"Shut up!" Helen recognized that voice. That was the one who'd asked… Mr. Creep, to leave.

There was silence. The man behind her had removed his hand from her mouth, and she could tell from the way his shaking had increased, that he was having a very hard time keeping his laughter to himself.

"She's got to be around here somewhere… No, don't go that way, it's a dead end, you idiot. She's not that dumb!" one of the men shouted. A snort escaped the man behind her, and she wasted no time digging her elbow into his stomach.

 _Owwww, wrong arm_ …

"Did you hear that?"

Luckily Mr. Creep had been able to restrain himself, after she'd elbowed him, if only slightly, and his brief slip was brushed off.

"Nah, probably a rat or something. The place is _crawling_ with them," the first man said in disgust.

"Pull yourselves together and get moving!" the- by now obviously- leader of group snapped.

"Alright, alright… How much longer do we have to chase her anyways?" The voices were starting to gradually fade.

"Until we catch her, you idiot!"

Her captor was once again trying to muffle his laughter, and Helen wondered how on earth she even ended up in this position…

 _Why me?_

Finally, it seemed that the men were gone, and she threw herself away from the stranger whose intentions she had yet to discover. She was finally able to get a better look at him. He stood in a slightly hunched position, his hair was indeed an ungodly length, falling, wet and limp from the rain, nearly to the back of his knees, and his bangs hadn't moved an inch, leaving his eyes completely obscured. The scar she had seen was clearly visible now, stretching across his right cheek and disappearing under the silver bangs. He wore long, baggy black robes, whose sleeves were- thankfully- now covering his hands and those ridiculously long nails of his, and a gray sash was hanging over his shoulder and at his hip. At least the coffin talk made sense, for he was obviously a mortician of some sort.

"Well, that was interesting!" he giggled.

Helen shot him a glare.

"Heehee… someone's hostile!"

"You… you… attacked me!" she protested.

"Ah, ah, ahhh," the man sang, waving a finger in her face. "I saved your life! I assure you, no hostile intentions here!" He cackled.

Helen couldn't exactly argue with that. The saving part, anyways. She wasn't quite sure of his intentions.

"It's the least I could do," he sniggered, rocking back and forth. "With the wonderful laughter you bestowed upon me! You really should have seen your face!"

The young woman raised an eyebrow at the man before her. "I thought you were going to get a … ahem… coffin?" she sneered.

"Silly! If I was serious I would've taken your measurements!" Out of nowhere he produced a tape measure, and waved it around in her face. "Speaking of which… do you mind?" He began to unroll the tape.

"No! I mean yes! Yes I mind! No measurements!" Helen yelped, backing further away. The man very near pouted.

"Anyways. How did… you…know…" Helen drifted off, feeling very confused.

The man's giggling intensified slightly.

"Uh, never mind. I'd… well… I'd best be going…" Helen muttered, slowly backing away from the man, who, by now, was beginning to scare her.

"Heehee… May I, perhaps, make a suggestion, little miss?" The man leaned forward, and poked her arm. "You seem to be bleeding quite a bit… How 'bout you come with me, and I'll fix you right up! Just like one of my guests! I promise I'm good at it…Heehee… And if you change your mind, I can even measure you for a coffin, just in case you bleed to death before we get there!" He doubled over in laughter once again.

"No, thank you, I can take care of myself," Helen stated coldly, backing away from the poking finger and, finally deciding she'd had enough of his bizarre antics, turning her back to the strange, silver-haired man. She gingerly held a hand to her arm, and hissed.

"Suit yourself," he sang. "Before you go… May I at least inquire as to who your pursuers were?"

Helen glared at him over her shoulder. "No."

Mr. Creepy held his hands up (well… his sleeves) in a pacifying gesture. "Twas merely curiosity, little miss, merely curiosity."

Helen snorted, and resumed walking away.

"See you around!" he sang.

Helen huffed and looked back over her shoulder to see him grinning broadly at her. "No, you won't."

He giggled. "Whatever you say, little miss. Whatever you say." He waved at her cheerfully, the ever-present grin growing slightly, before he turned in the opposite direction and walked off.

Helen faced away, still rather confused. What on earth did he mean by that?

Nothing good, of that she was sure.

 **A/N: Well… I didn't mean for it to be this long O_O It took me forever and a day XD eheheheh… In all honesty I should never haves started this… but I just couldn't resist *hangs head***

 **I may or may not go into the events of the manga. Unsure. I think it will be mentioned, at least...**

 **ANYWAYS! Tell me what you think! Is Undertaker OOC? Is it boring? I'm pretty sure there was too much running but *shrugs* it is what it is… I had originally meant for this to be quite serious, and it will be, but come on… just *gestures* Undertaker. He is SOOOOOO fun to write… Heehee… I really hope this turns out alright *nervous***

 **AND ALERT- UPDATES WILL BE SLOW.**

 **Thank you to-**

 **AfanofManyStuffs- OMG YOU'RE RIGHT THAT SONG IS PERFECT! I THINK I FOUND THE TYPO TOO, BUT I WAS TOO LAZY TO FIX IT. -_- I'm planning on a making a playlist for some of my stories on my profile soon, so I'll put that song on for this one!**

 **Emperor DeLacus- I REALLY HOPE IT LIVES UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS! Thank you~!**

 **UNTIL NEXT TIME!**

 **Overlord Rousdower out_**


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